DETROIT, July 30 (Reuters) - General Motors Co signeda sponsorship deal with Manchester United on Monday afterrewording the terms negotiated with the popular English soccerclub by the U.S. automaker's ousted global marketing chief.

Under the seven-year jersey sponsorship deal starting in2014-2015 for the Chevrolet brand, GM will pay $60 million to$70 million a year, said a person with knowledge of the contractwho asked not to be identified. GM also will pay the club a $100million activation fee, making the deal's total value worth asmuch as $600 million, the person said.

By comparison, insurance broker Aon Plc pays about$31 million a year for the current jersey sponsorship, whichruns through the 2013-2014 season.

On Sunday, GM ousted its global marketing chief, JoelEwanick, without giving specifics. Sources toldReuters that Ewanick failed to properly report financial detailsabout a recent sponsorship deal with the soccer club. Thatresulted in a rewording of the deal before it was announced onMonday, the sources said. The persons requested anonymitybecause they are not authorized to discuss contract details.

GM announced on May 31 that Chevy would take over asManchester United's automotive sponsor, replacing Volkswagen's Audi brand. Terms of that deal, which runs for fiveyears, were not disclosed, but analysts said it is likely worthat least tens of millions of dollars. It wasunclear whether Ewanick's ouster was related to the firstManchester United deal, the second, or both.

GM on Monday again declined to discuss why Ewanick wasfired. The automaker had previously said that Ewanick had"failed to meet the expectations that the company has for itsemployees." Ewanick has declined to comment.

GM and Manchester United officials did not reveal terms ofthe deal announced on Monday.

GM, which spent almost $4.5 billion on advertising lastyear, said in May it wanted to tap in to Manchester United'sestimated 659 million fans around the world to boost the imageof its Chevy brand, especially in Asia. The automaker alsoannounced a four-year auto sponsorship deal last week withManchester United rival Liverpool.

While GM would not discuss Ewanick's departure, someindustry officials said a deal as big as the Manchester Unitedsponsorship agreements would have been signed by multipleexecutives. They also raised the possibility that GM simplywanted to dump Ewanick as the automaker's U.S. market share hasdeclined by nearly 2 points in the first half of 2012 comparedwith the year before to 18.1 percent despite a raft of new,well-received cars and trucks.

"They were angling for Joel to be gone for several months,"said Peter DeLorenzo, editor in chief of the auto websiteAutoextremist.com. "He turned a lot of people off. He's so 180degrees from the staid GM system.

"The moment he got in there, you could count the days untilhe was going to get exited from the company," DeLorenzo added.

AGENT OF CHANGE

However, sources said GM was committed to Ewanick and hisefforts to shake up the automaker's image. Ewanick, 52, wasnamed vice president and head of GM's U.S. marketing in May2010, about seven months before the automaker's blockbusterinitial public offering in November of that year.

Brought in by former GM chairman Ed Whitacre, former vicechairman Robert Lutz and current North American chief MarkReuss, the high-energy Ewanick was given free rein to shake upGM's marketing, which had been perceived as stale.

The first major effort under his watch was the "Chevy RunsDeep" campaign that launched at the start of the Major LeagueBaseball's World Series in 2010. Critics said the campaign hasfailed to connect well with consumers.

When he was promoted to global marketing chief in December2010, Ewanick said the move was intended to give marketing aseat at the executive conference table and a say in planning andbudgeting for new GM vehicles.

Ewanick, who was credited with helping to drive HyundaiMotor Co's fast growth in the U.S. market, steeredGM back to sponsorship of high-profile events like the SuperBowl.

In May, he announced GM would pull its paid ads fromFacebook days before the highly anticipated initialpublic stock offering for the social networking website, andsaid GM would not advertise on CBS during the 2013 SuperBowl because they were both overpriced.

Ewanick also led GM's effort to drive down the ad fees paidto broadcast TV networks during the advanced selling season thatended in June, said Brad Adgate, senior vice president ofresearch at Horizon Media. The big four U.S. TV networksgarnered single-digit increases from advertisers.